By Dr. Alex Cullison
Dr. Alex Cullison is a longtime election officer, who served both Kent County and Fairfax County, Virginia.
I was an election officer for decades in Fairfax County, Virginia. Recently, we moved to Delaware. I have served as a general election officer, an assistant chief and a chief. I don’t think you can appreciate what goes on behind the scenes during an election by just observing or dropping by to vote. I think, to appreciate the process, you have to commit to immersing yourself into the role of an election officer. Fairfax County is constantly evolving and improving its election methodology.
To consider how election fraud might take place, you have to dissect the process. Where are the security weaknesses and how would one infiltrate the system effectively to rig the outcome? Let’s review what happens when you go to the polls to vote!
- You registered to vote before the election and/or have recently voted.
- You have your voter registration card and/or an acceptable ID.
- You go to your precinct to vote. You feel good about exercising your right to vote.
- You go to the first table, where they confirm your eligibility to vote. The election officers will look your name up on an electronic pollbook. These are updated the night before the election. They are not connected to the internet. If you provide a driver’s license as an ID, they will look up your name and confirm your eligibility. The election officer will ask you to speak your name and address. Why? This is for the benefit of the election observers that may be monitoring the process. They would be sitting behind the election officers, if they are in attendance. Note: Even if they aren’t there, an election officer will still ask you to speak your name and address.
- When your eligibility has been confirmed, you will be given a card that will enable you to receive a ballot at the next table.
- Important note: The electronic pollbook will keep an ongoing count of all the eligible voters who received a ballot during the day.
- The next table you go to will have an election officer who will take your card and swap it for a paper ballot. All blank ballots are counted at the beginning of the day, and the remaining blank ballots are counted and sealed at the end of the day.
- You find a seat in the private voting area and mark your ballot using the pens provided.
- You take your completed ballot to the election officer at the ballot scanner. They will explain how to insert the ballot into the machine. The scanner will acknowledge that your ballot has been received and has been tabulated. More about the scanners: These machines are not connected to the internet. Each machine has two counters, like your car odometer and tripmeter. One counter shows how many people voted on that machine during that election. The other is a counter of all the votes ever cast on that scanner. Each machine has two thumb drives that store the voting tabulations. When the scanners are started in the morning, they print out tapes that show the zero counts, and at the end of the day, they print out the election results for that machine.
- You have voted! Your scanner confirmed it. You get an “I voted” sticker!
- It is now 7 p.m., and the polls have officially closed. The chief election officer will prepare a “statement of returns.” This detailed form reveals and compares all the voting activity that took place during the day. Important to note: It will compare the number of voters who checked in and gave ballots using the electronic pollbooks to the counters on the ballot scanners. These numbers should coincide. If not, the election officers will research and identify any discrepancies. Voted ballots are sealed using special security tape and taken immediately to the county’s election office, along with thumb drives and other important items.
- It should be noted that most equipment has security seals, like electrical ties, that are individually numbered and logged.
- FYI: The team of election officers is a balanced mix of Republicans, Democrats and independents. When working with balloting materials, there are two election officers assigned.
So, how do you rig the system? If you are eligible to vote, you get to vote. If you aren’t eligible to vote (but think you are), you can ask for a provisional ballot and petition the election office’s board to count your ballot. Of course, this is only one vote. Pretend you secretly brought a wheelbarrow of voted ballots into the polling place. If you ran them through the scanner, the counter on the machine wouldn’t match the counter on the pollbooks, revealing an issue. If you simply threw them in the ballot collection box in the bottom of the scanner, they wouldn’t have been tabulated as votes. If you voted on the unused ballots and ran them through the scanner, the scanner counter wouldn’t compare with the pollbook counter, revealing a discrepancy.
So, what’s the best way to ensure the integrity of the election in your precinct? Become an election officer. Even if you only serve one time, you will find out firsthand that the system employs an elaborate array of security protocols, data backup redundancy, bipartisan oversight and a dedication to the process that inspires confidence.
We have all heard of claims of election fraud and vote rigging. If you believe this to be possible, please don’t take the word of people who have a political agenda. Find out for yourself. Consider being an election officer as part of your civic and patriotic duty to your community and country. Apply online, get the training, take the oath and be an integral part of the election process and perhaps part of history! There’s always a need for election officers. You will even get paid! Encourage your adult children and friends to become election officers. If you have a child in high school, he or she can work as a page in the precinct — a very valuable experience!
Again, please, if only one time in your life, consider working as an election officer. You owe it to yourself to experience the reality of this amazing democratic process firsthand!
Reader reactions, pro or con, are welcomed at civiltalk@iniusa.org.
